Device for pressing bridges in pianos



(No Model.) O. HINZE.

DEVICE FOR PRESSING BRIDGES IN PIANOS.

Patented Jan. 26; 1892.

am X 642M Wwmb @QW? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

. CARL HINZE, or DES. MOINES, IOWA.

DEVICE FOR PRES SING BRIDGES IN PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 467,539, dated January 26, 1892.

I Application filed September 21, 1891. Serial No, 406,300. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL HINZE, a citizen of the United States of America, residingat Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Method and Device for Regulating theVibrations and Tones of a Piano, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in an attachment adapted to be fixed in a piano and combined and operated with a sounding board and bridge, as hereinafter set forth, in such a manner that part of the mechanism will project through the sounding-board to engage the bridge and to effect the vibrations and sounds of the instrument.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the device ready to be applied. Fig.2 is an end view of an upright piano from which parts are broken away to show the device applied,as required, for practi'cal use. Fig. 3 is a face view of the sounding-board fixed to the frame with which my operative mechanism is combined.

A represents the base portion of my device in the form of a straight bar adapted to be fixed to the frame of a piano in a diagonal position, as shown in Fig. 3, or in any suitable Way.

B is a curved lever pivoted to the side and end portion of the base, and O is a straight lever pivoted to the other end portion of the same base in such a manner that the ends of the long arms of the two levers will extend toward each other to be connected by means of a link D, pivoted to their ends, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, or in any suitable way, so that the two levers can be jointly operated by a treadle F, connected therewith by means of a rod H, as shown in Fig. 1, or in any suitable way that will enable the operator to actuate the levers simultaneously by pressing the treadle with the foot. Each lever has pins 1 and 2 projecting laterally and at right angles and adapted to engage the sides of the bridge J, fixed to the face of the soundingboard K, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, or in any suitable way that will allow the levers or projections on the levers to be brought into contact with the sounding-board and bridge in such a manner as to effect the vibrations of the sounding-board,thebridge, and the strings stretched over the bridge and to change the tones of the instrument.

Elongated slots in the sounding-board, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, allow the pins 1 and 2 to project through, as required, to clasp the bridge when the treadle is depressed by means of the operators foot.

I claim as my invention An attachment for pianos, comprising a base piece or bar adapted to be fixed to the frame of a piano, a lever pivoted to each end portion of said base piece or bar and provided with pins or projections extending at right angles therefrom at points equidistant from their fulcrums, and the inner ends of said levers connected with each other by a rigid link pivoted thereto, and the inner end of one of said levers connected with atreadle, in combination with a sounding-board having slots through which the pins or projections on the connected levers are extended to traverse the slots and to engage the bridge fixed to the sounding-board, as and for the purposes stated.

CARL HINZE.

Witnesses:

E. O. SWEENEY, JOHN H. FRANKLIN. 

